Category

Technique

(Hydro)gelsApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCosmetics & consumer careCustomer publicationsMaterialSAXSTechnique

The Influence of Structure and Morphology on Ion Permeation Behaviour in Commercial Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lenses

Saez-Martinez, Virginia; Mann, Aisling; Lydon, Fiona; Molock, Frank; Layton, Siân A.; Toolan, Daniel T. W.; Howse, Jonathan R.; Topham, Paul D.; Tighe, Brian J.

The importance of the microstructure on the permeability of silicone hydrogels is widely appreciated but is poorly understood and minimally investigated. In contrast with most conventional hydrogels, the water content and water structuring within silicone hydrogels cannot be solely used to predict their permeability. To ensure comfort and eye health,…
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialParticle interactionsPhase analysisPolymer researchSAXSSelf-assembled materialSizeTechnique

Order–Order Phase Transitions Induced by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide in Triblock Copolymer Thin Films

Abate, Anabella A.; Vu, Giang Thi; Piqueras, Cristian M.; del Barrio, María Cecilia; Gómez, Leopoldo R.; Catalini, Gabriel; Schmid, Friederike; Vega, Daniel A.

We study the influence of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) on the phase behavior of a cylinder-forming polystyrene-block-polybutadiene-b-polystyrene triblock copolymer thin film. Solvent annealing with scCO2 can produce patterns with long-range order but these structures become unstable for thin films with small thicknesses. These results are in good agreement with self-consistent…
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsGIWAXSMaterialParticle interactionsRenewable energySurface structure and patternsTechniqueThin films

Highly Crystalline Near-Infrared Acceptor Enabling Simultaneous Efficiency and Photostability Boosting in High-Performance Ternary Organic Solar Cells

Yin, Hang; Zhang, Chujun; Hu, Hanlin; Karuthedath, Safakath; Gao, Yajun; Tang, Hua; Yan, Cenqi; Cui, Li; Fong, Patrick W. K.; Zhang, Zhuoqiong; Gao, Yaxin; Yang, Junliang; Xiao, Zuo; Ding, Liming; Laquai, Frédéric; So, Shu Kong; Li, Gang

The near-infrared (NIR) absorbing fused-ring electron acceptor, COi8DFIC, has demonstrated very good photovoltaic performance when combined with PTB7-Th as a donor in binary organic solar cells (OSCs). In this work, the NIR acceptor was added to state-of-the-art PBDBT-2F:IT4F-based solar cells as a third component, leading to (i) an efficiency increase…
12 March 2021
ApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsInorganic materialsMaterialMetalsSAXSTechnique

Ambient synthesis of nanomaterials by in situ heterogeneous metal/ligand reactions

S. Chang, Boyce; Thomas, Brijith; Chen, Jiahao; D. Tevis, Ian; Karanja, Paul; Çınar, Simge; Venkatesh, Amrit; J. Rossini, Aaron; M. Thuo, Martin

Coordination polymers are ideal synthons in creating high aspect ratio nanostructures, however, conventional synthetic methods are often restricted to batch-wise and costly processes. Herein, we demonstrate a non-traditional, frugal approach to synthesize 1D coordination polymers by in situ etching of zerovalent metal particle precursors. This procedure is denoted as the…
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSSelf-assembled materialTechnique

CO2-Triggered and temperature-switchable crystallization-driven self-assembly of a semicrystalline block copolymer in aqueous medium

Zhu, Rui; Luo, Xinjie; Feng, Yujun; Billon, Laurent

The synthesis of a semicrystalline block copolymer comprising a hydrophilic poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) pure block and an amphiphilic poly(acrylic acid)-r-poly(octadecyl acrylate) (PAA-r-PODA) random block by nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP) is reported. The aggregation behavior of the copolymer in aqueous medium was studied by using a MicroCal VP differential scanning calorimeter (VP-DSC)…
12 March 2021
ApplicationCatalystsCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialOtherOtherPhase analysisPorous materialSAXSTechnique

Grafting and stabilization of ordered mesoporous silica COK-12 with graphene oxide for enhanced removal of methylene blue

M. Henning, Laura; Simon, Ulla; Gurlo, Aleksander; J. Smales, Glen; F. Bekheet, Maged

Large-pore ordered mesoporous silica (OMS) COK-12, analogous to the well-known SBA-15, but synthesized in a more environmentally friendly way and exhibiting a shorter plate-like structure, was grafted with different amounts of graphene oxide (GO) for the first time in an inexpensive and rapid process, that was successfully upscaled. Samples were…
12 March 2021
ApplicationCatalystsCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialMetalsNanoparticles & colloidsParticle size and size distributionParticlesSAXSTechnique

Active site isolation in bismuth-poisoned Pd/SiO2 catalysts for selective hydrogenation of furfural

Cherkasov, Nikolay; Expósito, Antonio José; Aw, Moom Sinn; Fernández-García, Javier; Huband, Steven; Sloan, Jeremy; Paniwnyk, Larysa; Rebrov, Evgeny V.

Active site isolation in furfural (FA) hydrogenation was studied by poisoning a Pd catalyst with bismuth. A solution of FA in water was hydrogenated over a 5?wt% Pd/SiO2 catalyst in a batch reactor at various reaction temperatures and pressures. Furfuryl alcohol (FAL) was an intermediate product which was further hydrogenated…
12 March 2021
ApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsLiquid crystalsMaterialOrientation analysisOtherPhase analysisSAXSTechniqueWAXS

Tunable circularly polarized luminescence from molecular assemblies of chiral AIEgens

Song, Fengyan; Cheng, Yanhua; Liu, Qiuming; Qiu, Zijie; Lam, Jacky W. Y.; Lin, Liangbin; Yang, Fafu; Tang, Ben Zhong

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) is important to chiral photonic technologies. In molecular systems, besides their intrinsic chemical structures, architectures of molecular assemblies at the mesoscopic scale also account for the final macroscopic CPL properties. Herein, tunable CPL responses can be induced through architectural regulation of these molecular assemblies in suspension…
12 March 2021
ApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsFractal dimensionGISAXSGIWAXSMaterialOrientation analysisRenewable energyTechniqueThin films

Enhanced gas barrier property of stacking-controlled reduced graphene oxide films for encapsulation of polymer solar cells

Sung, Sae Jin; Park, Jisoo; Cho, Young Shik; Gihm, Se Hoon; Yang, Seung Jae; Park, Chong Rae

Compact stacking of building blocks is essential in order to utilize the impermeable nature of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for encapsulating barriers in organic electronics. To obtain the desired accumulation characteristic, rGO films were fabricated via spraying process using phase-controlled graphene oxide (GO) dispersion. The rGO laminate prepared from the…
12 March 2021
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCrystalline fractionCustomer publicationsMaterialPhase analysisPolymer researchSAXSTechniqueTemperatureWAXS

Determination of the Critical Size of Secondary Nuclei on the Lateral Growth Front of Lamellar Polymer Crystals

Zhang, Shujing; Han, Jiarui; Gao, Yang; Guo, Baohua; Reiter, Günter; Xu, Jun

Nucleation is the rate-limiting first step of crystallization. The energy barrier related to form the critical nucleus predominantly affects the nucleation rate. Determination of the size of the critical nucleus is a key for understanding the mechanism of nucleation and allows testing theories. However, it has been a great challenge…
12 March 2021